Table of Contents
- Last updated
- Aug 13, 2019
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This textmap is an introductory chemistry text aimed for a single semester or quarter beginning experience to the field. The textmaps survey some of the basic topics of chemistry. This survey should give student enough knowledge to appreciate the impact of chemistry in everyday life and, if necessary, prepare student for additional instruction in chemistry.
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1: What Is Chemistry?
What is chemistry? Simply put, chemistry is the study of the interactions of matter with other matter and with energy. This seems straightforward enough. However, the definition of chemistry includes a wide range of topics that must be understood to gain a mastery of the topic or even take additional courses in chemistry. In this book, we will lay the foundations of chemistry in a topic-by-topic fashion to provide you with the background you need to successfully understand chemistry. -
2: Measurements
Chemistry, like all sciences, is quantitative. It deals with quantities, things that have amounts and units. Dealing with quantities is very important in chemistry, as is relating quantities to each other. In this chapter, we will discuss how we deal with numbers and units, including how they are combined and manipulated. -
3: Atoms, Molecules, and Ions
The basic building block of all matter is the atom. Curiously, the idea of atoms was first proposed in the fifth century BCE, when the Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus proposed their existence in a surprisingly modern fashion. However, their ideas never took hold among their contemporaries, and it wasn't until the early 1800s that evidence amassed to make scientists reconsider the idea. Today, the concept of the atom is central to the study of matter. -
4: Chemical Reactions and Equations
Chemistry is largely about chemical changes. Indeed, if there were no chemical changes, chemistry as such would not exist! Chemical changes are a fundamental part of chemistry. Because chemical changes are so central, it may be no surprise that chemistry has developed some special ways of presenting them. -
5: Stoichiometry and the Mole
We have already established that quantities are important in science, especially in chemistry. It is important to make accurate measurements of a variety of quantities when performing experiments. However, it is also important to be able to relate one measured quantity to another, unmeasured quantity. In this chapter, we will consider how we manipulate quantities to relate them to each other. -
6: Gases
Gases have no definite shape or volume; they tend to fill whatever container they are in. They can compress and expand, sometimes to a great extent. Gases have extremely low densities, one-thousandth or less the density of a liquid or solid. Combinations of gases tend to mix together spontaneously; that is, they form solutions. Air, for example, is a solution of mostly nitrogen and oxygen. Any understanding of the properties of gases must be able to explain these characteristics. -
7: Energy and Chemistry
Energy is a very important quantity in science and the world around us. Although most of our energy ultimately comes from the sun, much of the energy we use on a daily basis is rooted in chemical reactions. The gasoline in your car, the electricity in your house, the food in your diet - all provide substances for chemical reactions to provide energy (gasoline, food) or are produced from chemical reactions (electricity, about 50% of which is generated by burning coal). -
8: Electronic Structure
Atoms act the way they do because of their structure. We already know that atoms are composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons are located in the nucleus, and electrons orbit around the nucleus. But we need to know the structural details to understand why atoms react the way they do. Virtually everything we know about atoms ultimately comes from light. Before we can understand the composition of atoms (especially electrons), we need to understand the properties of light. -
9: Chemical Bonds
How do atoms make compounds? Typically they join together in such a way that they lose their identities as elements and adopt a new identity as a compound. These joins are called chemical bonds. But how do atoms join together? Ultimately, it all comes down to electrons. Before we discuss how electrons interact, we need to introduce a tool to simply illustrate electrons in an atom. -
10: Solutions
A solution is a homogeneous mixture—a mixture of two or more substances that are so intimately mixed that the mixture behaves in many ways like a single substance. Many chemical reactions occur when the reactants are dissolved in solution. In this chapter, we will introduce concepts that are applicable to solutions and the chemical reactions that occur in them. -
11: Acids and Bases
Acids and bases are important classes of chemical compounds. They are part of the foods and beverages we ingest, they are present in medicines and other consumer products, and they are prevalent in the world around us. In this chapter, we will focus on acids and bases and their chemistry. -
12: Oxidation and Reduction
One important type of chemical reaction is the oxidation-reduction reaction, also known as the redox reaction. -
13: Nuclear Chemistry
In nuclear chemistry, the composition of the nucleus and the changes that occur there are very important. Applications of nuclear chemistry may be more widespread than you realize. Many people are aware of nuclear power plants and nuclear bombs, but nuclear chemistry also has applications ranging from smoke detectors to medicine. In this chapter, we will examine some of the basic concepts of nuclear chemistry and some of the nuclear reactions that are important in our everyday lives. -
14: Chemistry of Life: Organic and Biological Chemistry
Organic chemistry involves the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms. Organic compounds form the basis of all earthly life and constitute a significant part of human endeavors in chemistry.
